Understanding WordPress Basics Before You Start

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

So you decided you want to create a website and put it on the internet.
Is the only way to do that by talking code to a computer? No.
Today we also have GUIs (graphical user interfaces) for this, and WordPress was made exactly for that reason.

Around 42–48 % of all websites in the world are built with WordPress, which already tells you a lot about how powerful and accessible it is.

Content Types in WordPress

In WordPress, there are three main types of content you can give to a website:

1. Blog posts (Posts)

• Dedicated button in the WordPress dashboard.
• Intended for:
  • blogs
  • articles
  • long text‑based content
  • content that grows over time

Blog posts are usually managed and enhanced by blog‑focused plugins. One popular plugin used to extend content structures is JetEngine.

2. Pages (what you visually build)

• Visual layouts, sections + components built using page builders.
• The most famous page builder is Elementor.

Pages have their own section in the dashboard and are typically used for:

• Home
• About
• Services
• Contact
• Landing pages

Think of pages as designed layouts, not streams of content.

3. Custom Content Types (CCT / CPT)

This is where WordPress becomes more powerful. Custom Content Types are structured content, similar to data stored in tables:

• products
• events
• courses
• team members
• portfolio items

You can compare them to rows in a database table, where each item has fields (title, price, image, date, etc.). They are not “pages” and not “blogs”, but reusable structured data.

Themes: The Foundation of Your Site

When you create a site, the first thing you choose is a theme. A theme decides:

• typography
• spacing
• base layout
• general visual rules

Some themes are very flexible, like Astra, which means:

• easy to customize
• works well with page builders
• doesn’t lock you into a rigid structure

Other themes are more opinionated, meaning:

• harder to modify
• more constraints
• faster setup but less freedom

Choose your theme wisely, because it affects everything that comes after.

Templates (Often Confused, Very Important)

After themes, we arrive at templates. There are two types of templates:

• Templates you create yourself – built using Elementor (or another page builder); basically reusable layouts.
• Inserted / imported templates – come from template kits, external libraries, etc.

Important rule: Once you create a page using a specific template, you can’t just switch the template. You usually need to create a new page if you want a different structure.

Templates are sets of components reused across pages.

Plugins (Extra Powers)

Plugins are how you add functionality to WordPress. If you come from a coding background:

• plugins are like libraries
• they extend what WordPress can do

Too many plugins is not good:

• slower site
• conflicts
• harder maintenance

Some very famous plugins:

• WooCommerce → adds an entire e‑commerce system
• Elementor → visual page builder
• Security plugins → protect your site
• SEO plugins → help search engines understand your content

Each plugin adds power, but also responsibility.

Final Thought

WordPress lets you build websites without writing code, but understanding how it works makes a huge difference.